March 19, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 10, 1429

LAHORE, March 18: Lahore High Court’s Justice Maulvi Anwarul Haq on Tuesday admitted for regular hearing an application challenging the increase in petroleum products prices announced last week.

The court issued notices to the federal government through the secretary for petroleum and natural resources and sought the assistance of a federal law officer. The case is likely to come up for hearing in three weeks.

The petitioner, Advocate M.D. Tahir, had earlier challenged the increase in the prices announced on March 1. Both the cases would be heard together on the next date of hearing.

“The raise may kindly be set aside and a direction be issued to the respondents to fix the prices of the said products to what they were in 1993,” he prayed in the petition. He said the increase would escalate the prices of all essential commodities. The Musharraf regime had written off loans of billions of rupees to favour a specific class, he said.

He alleged that the previous government had squandered funds on foreign visits of former prime minister Shaukat Aziz and his stay in expensive hotels.

He said the people were finding it difficult to make both ends meet and the government could not be given unfettered powers to take such decisions in an arbitrary manner.